The winning bread in this year's National Brown Bread Making Competition is now available for sale in Aldi for €1.49 a loaf.
Margaret Sexton, a community nurse and mum of two from Roscommon, won the competition in the Aldi tent at the National Ploughing Championships in September. The competition was run in association with the NPA, ICA, and Aldi.
The winning bread, called Margaret's Loaf, hit the shelves of Aldi stores nationwide this weekend.
Margaret’s brown bread is being made by Stapleton’s Bakery in Roscrea, Co Tipperary, with ingredients including honey, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds.
“In the run up to the competition I must have baked over 100 loaves of bread," Margaret Sexton said. "I was feeding my entire neighbourhood. I think the brown bread is a celebrated symbol of Irish cuisine. How I serve my bread is dictated by the occasion. It complements a warm bowl of soup, works as a lovely starter with smoked salmon or just topped with butter, jam, and enjoyed with a cuppa.”
Being a community nurse, Margaret said that her brown bread recipe was influenced by health considerations. “I think my bread marries tradition with modern influences, it brings elements of the traditional brown bread but delivers on the demands of the modern day dietary requirements.
“To be transported from the world that I know into the world of food, bakeries, labs, and packaging has been such an adventure for me and I am very grateful to everyone involved who has helped my brown bread along the way,” she added.
James Deeney, buying director at Aldi, said of Margaret’s Loaf: “We are delighted to have a new premium bread product to offer our Aldi customers. Margaret’s bread will be sold in all our stores for €1.49.”
